Personal Branding: Get Up, Get Up, Get Busy, Do it!

10 steps you need to take in order to become more visible, attract more clients and achieve business success (part 2)…

Remember this Technotronic song “Get up (before the night is over)”?

Long time ago I heard this one. And it’s a perfect one to continue our blog series about making this your best business year yet.

In my last post I asked you whether you are ready to get up outta your comfort zone and make this the best year ever (and more to come :-))? Whether you are ready to start building that Personal Brand of yours and Boost your Business?

If your answer is a “yes” then you’ve probably (I hope) read the first 5 tips to get you out of your chair and rock!

If your answer is “no”, please (re)read the blog post, I’m sure it will inspire you to DO SOMETHING USEFUL 🙂

These are the 5 tips we covered in this blog post:

Decide! Decide who you want to be and what you want to do!

Stop making excuses. Making excuses does not put you in the driver’s seat, you will not gain respect by making excuses, only pity.

Craft your elevator pitch. What do you tell people when they ask you what it is that you do?

Get out there! Show the world (or at least your target audience) what you’re worth

In the meantime, are you ready to get up, get busy and do it before the year is over?

Let’s continue with the next 5 tips.

Make a 1 page business plan

When I was still an interim manager I saw many interesting companies and interesting business/strategic plans. And they had 1 thing in common: these business/strategic plans were often overly complex, and way too long. But hey, these are serious Fortune 500 companies.

You and I we are serious small business owners. That is, we are serious about our business (I hope), we are not taking ourselves too seriously (1 of my motto’s 🙂 ).

So we also need a business plan (because we do want to plan our business, right? Playtime is over!) However, please do keep it short and clear! There are so many templates out there on the Internet, you might consider having a look at this blog post: 8 Simple Business Plan Templates for Entrepreneurs. And there are many related books on amazon.com or bol.com.

The 1 page business plan is actually related to the Elevator Pitch we’ve already covered. So get your inspiration there or vice versa.

Mainly it comes down to answering the following questions:

What’s your vision & purpose

What are your objectives and goals?

Who will you serve? Who’s your ideal client? What are your customer segments?

What problem will you solve?

How will you solve that problem, in a way that your ideal client is willing to pay for it? What’s the value you deliver?

What are your key resources? Or what or who do you need in order to create your value?

What are your key activities? How will you deliver that value to your customers?

How will your ideal clients hear from you and your business? (Personal) Branding 🙂

Key Partnerships – who else do you need to keep your business up & running?

What are your income streams?

What’s your cost structure?

Answer these and you have yourself a 1-page business plan! All right! 🙂

Easy, right?

Remember Faith No More?:

That’s why I’m easy

I’m easy like Sunday mornin’, ya yeah

That’s why I’m easy, hey, hey, hey

I’m easy like Sunday mornin’

Once you have your business plan, you can start planning!

I admit, planning is not my strength. However, I have learned the hard way 🙁 that you will not be successful and have a stress-free & peaceful life if you don’t plan. I hate it, but it’s necessary.

I don’t want to live like a stressed-out chick having panic attacks at night and being a zombie by day 😮 So planning it is.

So I have been looking for the best and most fun way to do my planning. And I have found a way that I’ll share with you – my 7-step planning plan :-). It’s a combination of ideas I got from books like http://www.the1thing.com/ and http://gettingthingsdone.com/ and loads of courses I attended on time and priority management.

Here it is, my 7-step planning plan 🙂

Start with the most important thing: Plan your holidays and free time

Identify your yearly business goals

Plan your monthly goals – what do you have to do each month to achieve your yearly goals?

Each month consists of about 4 weeks – you’ll get the picture I guess, write down your weekly goals and tasks and priorities. That’s your weekly to do list.

And each weekday, have yourself a miracle morning if you wish (it has changed my life) and otherwise get yourself in a peak state by identifying your Number 1 What will you do today before you do anything else that will lead you to achieving your goals.

At the end of every quarter, have a quarterly review and reflect on your business progress, your focus, your personal development, and do not forget your personal goals in private life.

Have yourself a year-end business wrap-up. Reflect back on the business year, your progress, your sales, your achievements, your challenges, your breakthroughs…

It’s the best present I received this Christmas. From the greatest person on earth: me, myself and I. Hahaha. That’s me trying to practice something else I’m preaching: love yourself 🙂

And this is for you too: you are great! So get that greatness business planner 🙂

Remember Ray LaMontagne?:

Oh, because

You are the best thing

(you’re the best thing)

You are the best thing

(you’re the best thing, baby)

You are the best thing

(you’re the best thing, oooh)

Ever happened to me

Have a social media strategy

Ok, we already mentioned getting out there “physically” as in networking events. There is also something like building your Online Personal Brand. How do you do that?

Well, by blogging (cfr. Tip number 5) or by developing a social media strategy.

Again, lots of stuff to find on Internet and in books. And to give you an idea, here is my 7-step social media strategy.

Identify your goals – Do you want to create or raise awareness of your brand? Are you looking to increase sales, or website traffic, or both? Is your goal to build customer loyalty and increase retention?…

What’s the content you will share? What is valuable to your target audience.

Plan it – here we go again 🙂

Do it! Or delegate it! …

Want to know more on how to build your Online Personal Brand? Contact me. Here’s my number +32.478.39.02.69 🙂

Remember Carly Rae Jepsen?:

Hey, I just met you and this is crazy But here’s my number, so call me maybe

+32.478.39.02.69 🙂

By the way, you just have to watch this crazy YouTube video that goes with the song (or at least a cover of it!) – Memorable 🙂

Surround yourself with the right people

You have probably heard of the expression: “You become the people you surround yourself with”. Jim Rohn, a famous business “guru” and mentor of ao Anthony Robbins, once said: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

If that is the case, and I tend to believe it, I suggest you do the following:

Surround yourself with positive people

If you hang out with a group of successful, positive-minded individuals who believe in taking responsibility for their lives, you will move to become a proactive individual who shapes his/her future.

If you hang out with a bunch of pessimists who believe the world is out to get them and there is nothing worthwhile, you will start descending into the negative whirlpool at some point, even if you are initially a positive individual.

Identify 1 or 2 (or 5 🙂) people who embody the qualities you desire & connect with them

It doesn’t really matter who they are, do you already know them in person or are we talking about Richard Branson. Whoever it is, try to get in touch with them directly or indirectly and learn from them.

If it is Richard Branson, start the easy way, read his books 🙂

Find yourself a buddy.

Life can be lonely as an entrepreneur. I know I sometimes struggle with this loneliness. I’m a people person, and although I see lots of clients and I am out there, it’s not the same as having colleagues.

So the next best thing is having a business buddy.

I have several business buddies: Marijke, Ilse and Sandra. And we call each other almost every week and we share ideas, thoughts, ask each other questions, challenge each other, help each other through difficult times and not to forget, have fun together 🙂

Hire yourself a coach.

Why might you choose to be coached? Here are some of the ideas David Taylor suggests in his book the Naked Coach, and I totally agree:

To help you be more successful

To share and discuss things you normally keep in your head, in total confidence

To raise issues that you may not be able to within your team, or at home

To make your business more sustainable

To speed up – you may not be moving forward as fast as you would wih through self-coaching

To benefit from another person’s guidance, advice and perspective

To help with business and career decisions

Fundamentally, to live a more fulfilling life

There are lots of business coaches out there, and here 🙂 So I’m sure you’ll find the one that’s the right fit.

Remember Olivia Newton John & John Travota?:

You’re the one that I want

You are the one I want
Oo, Oo, Oo honey

You’re the one that I want
You are the one I want
Oo, Oo, Oo, the one that I need
Oh yes indeed

Don’t take your eyes off the summit, but don’t forget to enjoy the climb up the mountain

Robin Sharma says it differently, he says: “Enjoy the climb up the mountain. But never take your eyes off the summit”.

And it’s true. We covered the business plan, and the planning piece. We know we have to have goals and a path that will lead us there. And we should not waste time doing things that will not lead us to achieving our goals.

Then again, there is more in life than business goals and business plans. There is also something like: your family, your friends, your pets, your hobbies, fun, travel, experiences….

So, unless you want to become this goal getting asshole who’s no fun to be with (excuse my French :-)) do enjoy the climb up the mountain though it might be tough sometimes, do celebrate your successes (with others!!) and do have some fun.

Remember Bobby McFerrin?:

Now there, is this song I wrote

You might want to sing it note for note

Don’t worry, be happy

In every life we have some trouble

When you worry you make it double

Don’t worry, be happy

Don’t worry, be happy now

Your turn – give me some ideas on how you will get up, get busy and do it, rock your business before the night year is over?